While Kazius and Damon had attempted to act normal despite what they had seen, their usual happy chatter while the trio walked was replaced by an awkward silence. Kazius and Damon both continuing to glance at Alice as they did so.

Alice would look at them both confused, but despite this she would say nothing. Perhaps from awkwardness or perhaps because she could tell the two were acting weird ever since they looked into the mirror. Thankfully the walk into town was not too long.

Once there though, Kazius would go up to her, staring at her quite a bit again. He would reach out, almost touching her face again, but he would refrain from doing so half-way. “I… I have to go tend to something in the town, Damon will help me. We will be back.” Kazius would lie, not liking lying to any of his friends, much less her. He felt he had to though.

“Huh?” Alice would question, looking puzzled at his words and actions. “I could help too. We just came back from Mount Ulf, The Guardian must have exhausted you both too… Can’t it wait? I think you two should rest… There shouldn’t be an emergency… I could at least help if you really do have to go.” She stated in concern, clearly worried about them.

They had done decently well hiding things were wrong, but the longer time passed the more Kazius felt her would burst. He had little time to take in everything and the more he looked at Alice, the more he kept seeing the image of her dead. The more it just hurt. Kazius was normally a calm person, but…

“It is okay, you rest… We will return soon.” Kazius assured, restraining himself from hugging her again. He would then force himself to smile, Damon would smile as well but his expression was not anymore convincing. He didn’t know how they would hide this. He hoped talking to Damon would help.

“O…Okay…” Alice stated in confusion, looking at them both in confusion and concern.

With that the two would leave, Alice watching, staring at the two as they left.

Kazius knew there was little chance the two could have a private conversation in town, not with him being the Chief. So, after dropping Alice off, they would head to the outskirts by the river.

Wherever he looked, he could not help but think of what the place would look like. Something that should be making him happy, but with every building, bridge, and architecture that came to mind, Alice would overtake the thought soon after.

Looking around, the silence between the two men was deafening. He had actually been avoiding looking at Damon much, he didn’t know how to face him. How could he? When Damon was depressed and alone… He assured him he was a good person, that he was not cruel, it wasn’t in his nature… Yet he would be giving orders that would make him act cruel. Of course, he was better than his father in a very obvious sense, but he couldn’t claim Damon was not cruel in the future. And it was his fault.

Kazius could not find his words, there were just so many he wanted to say. He was heartbroken about Alice, but also about Damon. He didn’t know whether to begin with ‘Sorry’ or with ‘Did you see?’, he was torn. He felt so much guilt. Guilt for letting Alice die, and guilt for what he would turn his friend into.

“I’m sorry.”

Kazius would finally manage out. He would then hear Damon sigh before then a thump when the tall werewolf sat down.

“You know, if you are apologizing to someone, you should look at them.” He would hear after, Damon’s tone being more sad than snarky.

Kazius at this would sit next to Damon on the ground, ending up looking over at his friend. He was shocked, despite his pained look, Damon was weakly smiling. The werewolf looked miserable, but his smile was genuine.

“You don’t have to apologize. It isn’t your fault. Your orders, I would do any of them happily, that is my choice. You are not forcing me… No matter how terrible they are.” Damon admitted with a sigh.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Why would you go that far? I… I will be a terrible king… And an even worse friend. You aren’t like that. The vision is definitely real… I don’t doubt it, but... You wouldn’t follow those types of orders, I don’t understand.” Kazius stated with a pained look on his face.

Damon would simply smile, shaking his head, a hint of sadness in his eyes, “You have no idea of the hole you pulled me out of, do you? The dark place I was in, how alone I was. Azanor and Eve are my friends, good friends… But the ones that did everything for me, were you and Alice. You have no idea what I would do for both of you… No… I… I know for a fact that I would go that far for either of you. No matter how awful, even if that isn’t what I want to be. I would make myself like it, if it was a request from either of you. That is exactly what I would do. I would follow you into the Abyss for all I care.” He admitted.

Kazius looked at him in dismay, feeling only all the more guilty, “Doesn’t that mean I turn you to be like that? I killed that Dragonborn just because of hatred and one failed mission.”

“I killed the Dragonborn, not you.” Damon corrected firmly, “And if you told me to do it in the future, I will do it again.” He would add, a determined expression on his face. He did not seem like he would fall into grief over what he is and wasn’t anymore.

“Damon…” Kazius sighed out, unable to really argue with him. He was a goofy man, but he was surprisingly firm and straightforward when he got serious.

“I… I suppose I better make sure we don’t end up in a place like the Abyss then.” Kazius joked weakly.

“I believe in you.” Damon admitted with a small grin.

“I will try and do the same then… I will also believe that we can save her.” Kazius added, finally bringing up the main issue.

“We have to save her… Maybe we aren’t the most perfect people out there, but we care about her… And maybe saving her will have Vargstam and us be better.” Damon admitted.

“Yes, we may be two despicable men… But we will be two despicable men that will save a princess… You know… I still, despite things… Don’t doubt we are good; you are a good person and friend. Just sometimes good men must do despicable things. Become terrible for the ones we love.” Kazius joked bitterly at first before growing serious again, cracking jokes out of nervousness. The future wasn’t scary because of how it was shown he could act in such a way. Anyone is capable of being evil. The vision was scary because after seeing Alice dead like that… It very much made sense to him. It was a thinking process and evil that was very understandable. That was the fact that was horrifying to him. How reasonable it seemed. If something truly happened to Alice, he could see himself making such choices again… And it seems Damon felt the same.

“You know… Seeing her like that… It made me realize how much I’ve been lying to myself about her… I love her, don’t I? I wanted to not see it… But… Even with that hood on… The day I met her, she was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen… And now that I know that…. The thought of her being in danger is destroying me.”

Damon frowned, looking torn on the matter. “I could tell… To be honest… I think everyone but you two know… How she looks at you… And even how you look at her… You should tell her, you don’t want to regret it… I can’t believe that she would be gone like that.”

“I don’t know… I… I don’t have the heart to tell her until I know we stop this… But that is easier said than done… I don’t even know what we will be protecting her from… Or when it will even happen…” Kazius stated in dismay, not knowing tearing away at him, his heart feeling heavier in his chest.

“It isn’t like we can hide here and try to run away from everything. That isn’t safe either. As long as The Church of The Oracle exist and the Demon King plans to conquer the world, we will all be in danger…”

“That makes sense.” Damon stated with a sigh.

Kazius would look down in dismay, indeed they were stuck.

‘Did I put her in danger by making different decisions because I saw The Oracle’s vision? But the more times I see the future, the more I want to look again…. No… Looking was good, it warned me… The future changed once, it can change again… But I don’t know anything about what actually kills her! What do I even do!? I don’t want to let someone even touch a single hair on her! Wait… Hair… She was preserved when she died… And she has been growing out her hair…’

“While we don’t have a way to know what happens… I think I know how to tell when we are close to when it happens…” Kazius admitted, “I saw her body, I preserved it. By the time she died, her hair is to her lower back in length… It is a bit past her shoulders. I don’t know how fast her hair grows… But… We have time.” He stated in realization.

It wasn’t much to go by, but it was a start… Of course, the longer her hair got, the more anxious Kazius knew he would feel.

Damon was shocked at his suggestion, “You are right! Okay… We can look at her hair, if any danger comes around the time her hair is long enough, we can do something!”

Kazius smiled at this, the situation was starting to look a lot less hopeless.